参考译文：

参观美国七大建筑奇迹

在美国有很多自然奇迹，今天，我们带你去参观美国的七大建筑奇迹。

透过城市上空稀微的星光

车流滑过航船的上方

一桥飞架南北

飘扬着艺术家的梦想

这首诗描述的就是我们今天要去参观的第一站：纽约市布鲁克林大桥。该桥长480米，横贯东河，连接纽约市的布鲁克林区和曼哈顿区。一位著名的大桥建设者大卫.B.斯蒂曼为此桥写下了这首诗，但此桥却并非他所造。

建造这座大桥是另一个人的梦想，他就是约翰.A.罗布林，他是该桥设计团队的成员，1867年，他成为该工程的首席工程师。不幸的是，他身患重病，就在大桥开工前他去逝了。他是在考察建桥地址时，出了意外事故而得病的。大桥于1870年正式开工。修建这座大桥非常危险，有关建桥的危险事例没有多少记录在案，但有的历史学家说，在建造这座大桥过程中大约有二、三十名建筑者在施工过程中死亡。有些人是因从桥上掉下而死，有些人是被造桥设备撞击而死，还有些人是在建造大桥的沉箱过程中死亡或受伤。这些沉箱要深深地埋在地下，工人们因要承受很大的压力而患上了一种叫身体弯曲的疾病。

约翰.罗布林的儿子华盛顿就因为得此病而丧失了工作能力，在他父亲去逝后不久，他被任命为布鲁克林大桥工程的首席工程师。华盛顿.罗布林在他失去工作能力后，离开家继续工作。布鲁克林大桥于1883年5月24日建成通车，当时，这是世界上最长的悬索吊桥，也是非常美丽的一座大桥。这座大桥用了数万吨钢丝绳，这些钢丝绳将桥塔上下两侧联接在一起，从远处看，这么多钢丝绳就像是竖琴上的琴弦。布鲁克林大桥中间高出东河面40米。这座大桥是纽约市最著名、最受人喜爱的地标之一。

我们今天所要参观美国七大人间奇迹下一站还是一座大桥，这座大桥位于加州北部。金门大桥之名得之于该桥横跨其所联接的水路。金门海峡联接太平洋和旧金山海湾，这座大桥将旧金山与马林县相联接。约瑟夫.施特劳斯是金门大桥工程的首席工程师。该桥于1933年动工建设，于1937年建成通车。这座大桥长近1300米，在近三十年中，该桥保持了世界上最长的悬索吊桥的称号，随后，在1964年，纽约市另一座更长的桥韦拉扎诺海峡大桥打破了它所保持的纪录。

约瑟夫.施特劳斯利用最新研制的保护设备来保护建筑工人的生命安全，这些设备包括在桥下面安置特殊的安全网，但就是如此，还是有11个人在建设过程中死亡。这座大桥的颜色--国际桔黄色(International Orange)，非常重要。之所以采用这种颜色，部分是因为旧金山经常被浓雾笼罩，采用这种颜色便于在浓雾中看清大桥。许多人认为金门大桥是世界上最漂亮的大桥。

当这座大桥建成时，约瑟夫.施特劳斯为他所建造的这座大桥也写下了一首诗，下面就是这首《The Mighty Task is Done》(《大功告成》)的一部分：

大功终于告成

落日的余辉

照耀在高高的大桥之上

它那巨大的桥墩，

紧固大洋

它那强硬的钢架

将海岸相连

它的高塔刺破天空

我们要参观的下一站是美国中西部一个著名的地标，美国东西两个海岸首次在此相连。密苏里州的圣路易斯拱门是美国最高的独立式的拱门。明亮的钢弧架向上升起，高达200米，而在下面，拱门的宽度正好与其高度一样。

著名的芬兰裔美国建筑设计师埃罗.沙里宁在二十世纪四十年代后期的一次全国设计大赛中设计了这座拱门，但这座拱门一直到1963年2月才开始动工兴建。这座拱门于1965年10月竣工。后来新增的一个交通设施使得人们可以到拱门顶里面去参观。拱门位于密西西比河之上，为了纪念圣路易斯的历史意义，这座拱门取名为“通向西部之门”。

在美国，有一个地方，几乎每一个人都同意，它是美国的人间奇迹：南塔科达州的拉什莫尔山。美国四位最伟大的总统的面像雕刻在布莱克山脉的拉什莫尔山顶的岩石上。每一尊总统面像的高度大约有18米。雕刻家加特森.鲍格勒姆应邀创作了拉什莫尔山纪念碑，经过十四年的努力，终于在1941年雕刻完成。

这四位总统的每一位在美国历史上都有着重要的位置。乔治.华盛顿领导美国走向独立。托马斯.杰斐逊代表着平等的信念。亚伯拉罕.林肯结束了美国的奴隶制，确保了美国的统一。而西奥多.罗斯福是一位自然自然资源保护者和推广美国精神的象征。

下一站，我们要参观的是美国迄今以来建造难度最大、工程量最大之一的工程：胡佛大坝。该大坝位于内华达州拉斯维加斯附近的布莱克峡谷。该大坝控制着科罗拉多河，并进行发电。胡佛大坝于1931年开工建设，仅用五年时间就建成了。共有二万多人投入到这项工程中。兴建胡佛大坝是一项非常危险的工程，有96个人在建设过程中丧生，还有更多的人受伤。胡佛大坝高达221米，它的土石方超过650万吨。在当时，胡佛大坝是世界上最大、最高的大坝，也是世界上迄今为止建造的发电量最大的电站之一。胡佛大坝还人工开凿了米德湖，它是美国最大的人工湖。

美国另一个建筑奇迹则是建于美国建国的很久以前。大约在九百年前，普韦布洛印第安人的祖先就在科罗拉多的梅萨维德峡谷的峭壁中建造村庄。现在，有六百多处崖居成为了梅萨维德国家公园的一部分。旅游者可以站在梅萨维德顶部，观看建在峭壁里面的崖居。普韦布洛印第安人在岩石上凿出一个个小台阶，这些一连串的台阶将拥有数百间住房的建筑相互连接。峭壁保护着这些建筑免受此地恶劣气候的影响，所以，几百年来，这里的建筑几乎仍然保存完好。

我们今天要参观的最后一个建筑奇迹位于美国西北的华盛顿州西雅图市，太空针塔是1962年世界博览会的核心建筑。爱德华.卡尔松(Edward Carlson)设计这座高达184米的高塔。太空针塔的底部非常宽，而在中部却非常细，到顶部又是一个很大的指环型的建筑。太空针塔看起来就像是一个“飞碟”，所谓飞碟是科幻小说中的太空飞行器。在顶部飞碟中有观察区和就餐区。就餐区缓慢地转动，这样何以使游客从360度来欣赏西雅图市的美丽景色。太空针塔造价并不昂贵，它的造价只有大约450万美元，连设计带建造只用了一年时间，并在世界博览会开幕那天对外开放。如今，太空针塔已经成为西雅图最受欢迎的旅游胜地，而且仍然是该市在国际上著名的城市标志。

简评：

2010年，也就是明年，我们上海就要举办世界博览会。我不知道，届时，上海是否也象西雅图的太空针塔那样，给我们带来奇迹，但我期盼着。因为举办一届世界博览会不容易，我们付出了很多，应该为我们后代留下些什么!

美国立国时间并不长，但如今，美国人用他们的双手，创造出的人间奇迹却并不别的国家少，值得我们深思。

我们每天也在建设，可以说，如今的中国，仍然像是一个庞大的工地，到处都在建设，这种景象已经持续了二十多年，也取得了很大的成绩。但如果让我们细数我们所创造的人间奇迹，古代的我们不说，就说这几十年，细细想来，能够经得起历史检验的，可能还真的不多。三峡大坝应该是一个吧，而至于国家大剧院、鸟巢、水立方等，由于时间还很短，真的很难说。至于各个城市的建筑，那就更不好说了。有人说，我们的城市可以说是千城一面，到哪个城市，你要看建筑，都差不多，已经没有原先那种特色了。

我们在建设过程中，不断地破坏了老祖宗留下的各自特色，取而代之的是千篇一律，这不能不说是我们建设史上的悲哀。

但愿我们的建筑者，不要总是说：时间紧、任务重。时间紧，我们可以等，但如果匆忙上马而忽视精美的设计，为赶进度而忽视质量，这样的话，我们还不如不建。什么时候想好了，设计好了，再建不迟。如果不能保证质量，时间再紧，也要放下。

十年树木、百年树人，那么建筑呢？何止百年呀!

Visiting 7 Man-Made Wonders in the US

There are many natural wonders in the United States. Today, we take you to seven man-made wonders in America.

Against the city's gleaming spires,
Above the ships that ply the stream,
A bridge of haunting beauty stands –
Fulfillment of an artist's dream.

That poem is about our first man-made wonder -- the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. It extends more than four hundred eighty meters over the East River to connect the areas of Brooklyn and Manhattan. A famous bridge builder David B. Steinman wrote the poem. But he did not build the Brooklyn Bridge.

It was the dream of another man, John A. Roebling.  He was a member of the design team and became chief engineer of the building project in eighteen sixty-seven.  Sadly, he became sick and died before work even started. He had an accident when visiting the area where the bridge was to be built. Building began in eighteen seventy. It was very dangerous. Few records were kept on such events. But, historians say between twenty and thirty men died as a result of the building project. Some died from falling off the bridge or from being struck by equipment.  Others died or were injured from working in the structures called caissons. These lay deep below the surface of the Earth. The workers would get a pressure sickness called the bends.

John Roebling's son, Washington, was severely disabled by the bends. He had been named chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge project soon after his father died. Washington Roebling continued the work from his home after he was disabled. The Brooklyn Bridge opened on May twenty-fourth, eighteen eighty-three. At the time, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It is still a beautiful structure. The bridge has tens of thousands of suspension wires that spread many meters across and up and down to towers on each side. From a distance the many wires look like the stringed musical instrument called the harp. The center of the Brooklyn Bridge rises almost forty meters above the East River.  It is one of the most famous and beloved New York City landmarks.

Another bridge makes our list of the seven man-made wonders. This one is in northern California. The Golden Gate Bridge is named after the waterway it crosses. The Golden Gate Strait lies between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. The bridge over it links the city of San Francisco with Marin County. Joseph Strauss was the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge. Building began in nineteen thirty-three. The bridge opened in nineteen thirty-seven. It is almost one thousand three hundred meters long.  It was the longest suspension bridge in the world for almost thirty years. Then, in nineteen sixty-four, the larger Verrazano Narrows bridge opened in New York City.

Joseph Strauss used newly developed protective equipment for the men who worked on the bridge.  These included a special safety net under the bridge. But still, eleven men were killed during construction. The color of the bridge, International Orange, is very important. It was chosen partly because it is easier to see through the heavy fog that often covers San Francisco. Many people consider the Golden Gate Bridge the most beautiful bridge structure in the world.

Joseph Strauss wrote a poem about his bridge when the work was done. Here is a part of "The Mighty Task is Done": 

At last the mighty task is done;
Resplendent in the western sun
The Bridge looms mountain high;
Its titan piers grip ocean floor,
Its great steel arms link shore with shore,
Its towers pierce the sky.

Our next man-made wonder is as famous a landmark in the Midwest United States as the first two are on the East and West Coasts. The Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, Missouri is the tallest freestanding monument in the nation.  The shiny, steel curve rises to almost two hundred meters. Below, the arch is exactly as wide as it is tall.

The famous Finnish American building designer, Eero Saarinen, designed the Gateway Arch during a national competition in the late nineteen forties. However, building did not begin until February, nineteen sixty-three. It was completed in October, nineteen sixty-five. Later a transport system was added to permit people to visit an observation area inside the top of the arch. The Gateway Arch rises above the Mississippi River.  It was named in honor of Saint Louis, which was historically called "The Gateway to the West."  

There is one place in America that almost everyone agrees is a man-made wonder:  South Dakota's Mount Rushmore. Giant faces of four great American presidents are cut into the rock near the top of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills. Each face is about eighteen meters high. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum was chosen to create the Mount Rushmore memorial. It was completed in nineteen forty-one, after fourteen years 。

Each president represents important values in America.  George Washington led the cause for independence. Thomas Jefferson represented the belief in equality. Abraham Lincoln ended slavery and saved the Union. And Theodore Roosevelt was a conservationist and symbol of the progressive spirit of America. 

We go next to one of the largest and most difficult structures ever built in the United States: Hoover Dam. The dam is in the Black Canyon, near Las Vegas, Nevada.  It controls the water of the Colorado River and produces electric power. Workers began to build Hoover Dam in nineteen thirty-one. They finished in just five years. More than twenty thousand men worked on the project. It was very dangerous. Ninety-six workers were killed. Many others were injured.  The Hoover Dam is two hundred twenty-one meters tall. It weighs more than six and one half million tons. At the time, it was the largest and tallest dam in the world. And it was one of the largest producers of electric power ever built. Hoover Dam also created Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake in America.

Another man-made wonder of the United States was built long before the nation was established.  About nine hundred years ago, the Ancestral Puebloan people built villages high in the walls of canyons in Mesa Verde, Colorado. Six hundred cliff dwellings are now part of the Mesa Verde National Park.  Visitors can stand at the top of the mesas and look into the dwellings almost hidden in openings of the rock walls. The Puebloan people cut small steps into the rock. A series of such steps connected buildings containing hundreds of rooms. The rock walls have protected the buildings from severe weather in the area.  So they remain mostly unchanged in the hundreds of years since they were built.

Our final man-made wonder is in the northwestern city of Seattle, Washington. The Space Needle was built as the central structure for the nineteen sixty-two World's Fair.  Edward Carlson designed the one hundred eighty-four meter tall structure. The Space Needle has a wide base on the ground. It is narrow in the middle. On top is a large ring-like structure. The structure was meant to look like a "flying saucer," a vehicle that was popular in science fiction space travel stories.  The saucer includes an observation area and eating place. The restaurant slowly turns to provide visitors with a three hundred sixty degree view of Seattle. The Space Needle was not very costly. The building project cost about four million five hundred thousand dollars. It was designed and completed in about a year and opened on the first day of the World's Fair. Today, the Space Needle is the most popular place for visitors to Seattle. And it remains the internationally known symbol of the city.

http://www.21voa.com/path.asp?url=/200903/se-exp-seven-manmade-wonders-4-mar-09_0.Mp3